The Group’s intentions on direct, as well as military and logistics, support for the armed opposition will run counter the peaceful settlement

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MOSCOW, April 2 (Itar-Tass) — Intentions by the Friends of Syria Group to render direct, military, support for the armed opposition run counter the peaceful settlement priorities, Foreign Ministry deputy spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Monday.

“The second session of the Group was held in Istanbul, but Russia did not take part in it. According to coming reports, unfortunately, the Istanbul meeting took place on the unilateral basis. Neither representatives of the Syrian government nor influential groups of the Syrian political opposition were represented at the meeting,” the spokesperson said.

“The Group’s intentions on direct, as well as military and logistics, support for the armed opposition will, of course, run counter the peaceful settlement of the civil conflict in Syria,” Zakharova stressed.

“Moscow is sure that the main trend of the peaceful settlement in Syria is to implement the plan proposed by U.N./LAS Special Envoy Kofi Annan. The plan was approved by Russia and all U.N. Security Council members.” “To this end, we can note that the participants in the meeting in Istanbul also supported his mission. It is clear that it requires patient actions by all Syrian parties, regional and international players,” she said.

“Now it is necessary not to instigate the feud among Syrians in accordance with Kofi Annan’s plan. It is necessary to cease fire and violence as soon as possible and improve a broad inter-Syrian dialogue in order to find solutions, which are acceptable for all Syrians. We believe that these measures will ‘defend’ the Syrian people what was talked about in Istanbul,” Zakharova pointed out.

“Only these measures can help ensure the Syrian people’s right to decide their fate themselves without foreign interference, including the election of legitimate leaders of the country and its bodies,” the deputy spokesperson said.

“Moscow believes that it is important now to concentrate on support for all Syrian parties without any exception in order to implement Kofi Annan’s proposals. Annan will give a report on his assessments to the U.N. Security Council on April 2,” Zakharova emphasised.